New treatment for liver cancer patients

The DEBIRI (Drug-Eluting
Beads delivering Irinotecan) treatment is for patients suffering from
both primary, where the disease originated in the liver or secondary liver
cancer - where it travelled to the liver from another organ such as the bowel
or breast.

The DEBIRI treatment is minimally invasive and treats
patients who have inoperable tumours by shrinking them and making surgery
possible.

The procedure involves inserting a catheter – a thin plastic
tube - into an artery which supplies blood to the tumour. The tumour is
then injected with fluid containing microscopic chemotherapy beads, which
directly attack the cancer.

At the same time, the beads obstruct the tumour’s blood
supply, depriving it of oxygen and nutrients which prohibit its growth.
By injecting chemotherapy directly into the liver, many of the side effects can
be decreased or avoided.

The DEBIRI treatment is carried out by a multi-disciplinary
team at BMI The Alexandra Hospital, lead by Consultant Medical Oncologist Dr
Greg Wilson, and Consultant Interventional Radiologist Dr Finn Farquharson.